A numerical study for meniscus vortices induced by mold flow instabilities

The vortex core has a very strong intensity for entraining the gas in the rotating center by angular momentum conservation. Particularly, slag can be entrained into the molten steel when the meniscus vortex occurs in the mold process of the continuous casting. The entrained slag can cause serious surface defects, such as the scab and blister, in the produced steel products. The meniscus vortex accompanies a large deformation of free surface, such as vortex dimples or vortex cores. However, the free surface deformation has not been considered in the earlier studies for the meniscus vortex. We numerically investigated the meniscus vortex in the mold using a multiphase model based on a laminar model. Therefore, the proposed model successfully reproduced the important physics such as the meniscus instability, transient behavior of recirculation roll cells, biased flow, and meniscus vortex.